Horses for Heroes Serving Student Veterans

Horses for Heroes is back to help serve and support our student veterans. Since September, 10 student veterans have been working in pairs along with graduate assistants to groom and care for a horse. The program also included training in equine behavior, horse handling and horse health. Exercises have included taking the horses through a series of obstacles: a wooden platform, four wooden poles laid on the ground about 2 feet apart, and a gate-like structure made of PVC pipes, and blue and green swimming pool noodles.

John Anthony, a United States Marine Corps veteran, who was in the pilot program in 2019, said the program helped him to be calm and relaxed before and during exams. He was partnered with an Arabian purebred named Alada Sprite VS, or simply Sprite.

“They’re like big antennas for emotion,” Anthony said. “Whatever I am feeling, Sprite will pick up on it and reflect it back at me like a mirror.” 

The program is based on the campus’ Foal Watch program and is a partnership between the Veterans Resource Center and the Don B. Huntley College of Agriculture. The pilot program launched in Fall 2019 and was paused due to COVID restrictions.

Although Horses for Heroes is not a therapeutic program for PTSD, it does includes training on coping skills and elements from similar programs that have been successful.

“It gives veterans the opportunity to focus on the present and also on their well-being,” says Elke Azpeitia, Director of Cal Poly Pomona’s Veterans Resource Center.

Read more on previous student veteran experiences with Horses for Heroes here.